Disability advocate and Christian author Katherine Wolfe invites the thousands of young people who gathered at Passion 2023 to see pain as a path to growth and to find “hidden treasures” in life’s darkest times. I called.
Speaking on stage at the Passion Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, Wednesday afternoon, the 40-year-old speaker and author called conference founders Louie and Shelly Giglio “on stage with wheelchairs and disabled women. I praised him for making me stand on the floor.
“I have to say that in our world, it doesn’t happen enough,” she said.
“They say 20% of our world is now people with disabilities,” she added. “Nevertheless, only 2% are displayed in the media context at conferences and churches. They say a voice is a voice to be heard, and we have much to say about the hope of Jesus Christ.”
On April 21, 2008, at just 26 years old and six months old, James’ mother, Woolf, unexpectedly suffered a brain hemorrhage from a massive brain stem stroke that left her near death.
After hours of micro-surgery on her brain, the former beauty queen and model was miraculously alive but unable to walk, speak or swallow. She had severe double vision, deafness in the right ear, and right lateral nerve palsy.
She remains in a physical wheelchair, but noted that all humans have multiple “invisible wheelchairs”. She challenged her audience to “accept” her own invisible wheelchair.
“Early on after the storm, I heard, ‘Katherine is wheelchair bound,'” she said. She said, “You may have heard the expression ‘She’s wheelchair bound.’ And it never really worked for me. And then I realized it was because I wasn’t wheelchair bound. I am practically wheelchair-free. The reason is that this wheelchair allows me to go where I need to go…it is my vehicle, my vehicle, where I live my story for the glory of God. The same goes for you and your inner wheelchair. ”
“You don’t have to overcome a wheelchair,” she said. “No, just accept it. Understand that Jesus needs to meet you and take you where you need to go.”
Today, Katherine and her husband, Jay, run Hope Heals, a non-profit organization that provides rest, resources and relationships for injured bodies, brains and hearts. They are also internationally recognized communicators and advocates for people with disabilities.
In 2015, the Wolfes miraculously welcomed their second child, Jon Nestor Wolfe. John Nestor Wolfe is named after Dr. Nestor Gonzalez, the neurosurgeon who saved Catherine’s life in the third degree.
The couple shared their powerful story in the best-selling book, Hope Heals: A True Story of Overwhelming Loss and Overcoming Love And in the second book titledSuffer Strong: How to Redefine Everything and Survive.
“Life is hard,” she said. “Life would be hard if it wasn’t really, really hard yet. You have an amazing ability to endure incredibly hard thanks to you are actually anti-fragile.You are not as fragile as everything in this world tells you.”
“With Jesus in your corner, you are much stronger than you think you are. You can do it, because of Jesus you can do this,” she added, referring to 1 John 4:4, which states:
She encouraged listeners to find emotional agility and life “pivots” when needed. He said that there is a “deep beauty” in rejoicing without reason.
“Some people spend their entire lives looking for miracles in stories, but they miss the miracles in front of them,” she said.
Wolf reminded attendees that they could decide how they felt about their story. “Your life is a story, not moments”. “Stories have chapters, they have seasons…we cannot control what happens to us…but what happens We can control how we react. We are the ones who decide how we move forward.”
Christians, she said, can find beauty in suffering because they know the hope to come. In the good stories you write in your life, God made you do the hard things.”
Wolfe previously shared what her struggles taught her in an interview with The Christian Post.
“I had to learn how to find God in the midst of it,” she said. “I have learned that God’s goodness is not contingent on my earthly circumstances, nor is it based on what is happening in the material world. rice field.”
Jay Wolf reminded us that God’s goodness is never lost and that there are “treasures hidden in the darkness”.
“We have found this to be true in our lives,” he said. We see that you make yourself known to us.There is a sacred darkness that we as a church are not necessarily inclined to.We often believe that darkness is evil, Throughout the Bible we see how new life begins in darkness.”
Since the first Passion Conference in 1997, the ministry has met millions of students. Other speakers at her three-day event this year include Louie Giglio, David Platt, Christine Caine and more. Passion music led the attendees into worship prior to Wolfe’s message.
Held January 3-5 this year, the annual event is aimed at young people aged 18-25 and is called “Empowering students in worship, prayer and justice for the spiritual awakening of this generation.” It is intended to glorify God by being united.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. Contact her at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
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